Many high school athletes approach the decision of where to play college sports with enthusiasm and enjoyment. But if you’re St. Joseph rising senior James Ziemba, you’re in a tight spot.

Ziemba has an even bigger decision to make before he chooses which school to attend; he has to pick which sport he will play first.

Ziemba is one of the Metuchen school’s most well-known two-sport athletes. In the winter he laces up for basketball season and in the spring he heads to the mound for baseball.

Ziemba has always caught the eyes of coaches and scouts for his potential; his 6-9 frame is hard to miss.

Ziemba started out his high school career on the varsity basketball bench learning how to be a post man from former St. Joe’s center Rob Ashamole. Ziemba then stepped into the starting lineup his sophomore year to help lead the Falcons to their second straight Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament title.

Ziemba’s defensive play in the GMC final againstPiscatawaywas highly praised. ‘Big Z,’ as he’s also known, had key blocks, rebounds and points to help the Falcons hoist the crown.

Going into his junior year, Ziemba was supposed to be part of the St. Joe’s ‘Big 3’, which also included Quenton DeCosey andKarlTowns. The trio’s size was supposed to be the key to the Falcons success as many high school teams were expected to struggle with a lineup containing so much height.

Ziemba sadly suffered a knee injury in the team’s first scrimmage against Trenton Catholic, sidling him until the state tournament.

Despite the injury, Ziemba has still received interest from Division I schools such as Army, Bucknell, Colgate, Quinnipiac, and Yale. Scouts have said Ziemba could gather even more interest should he quit baseball and spend all of his time playing hoops. Ziemba though, doesn’t want to give up either sport; not yet at least.

Ziemba made the varsity baseball team his sophomore. He’s considered one of the GMC’s most intriguing pitchers being as an extremely tall lefty.

Ziemba has an arsenal of pitches, including a two-seam and four-seam fastball that tops out in the high 80s, as well as a slider and a change-up.

Ziemba has drawn major interest for his arm as he sports offers from Rutgers and Harvard, with interest from Penn,Virginia, Virginia Tech,PennState,Columbia, and Duke. Many scouts and coaches have said for Ziemba, the sky is the limit in baseball.

Many believe if the lefty gave up basketball and spent the time working on his mechanics, velocity, command, and other tools, he could have all the fortes to be an MLB draft prospect or even better, the next Randy Johnson.

To be in Ziemba’s size-14 shoes isn’t as easy it looks. Ziemba has already begun the recruiting process for both baseball and basketball, visiting Bucknell last summer for hoops, and Rutgers, Penn, and Harvard for baseball.

He has very well-considered the possibility of playing two sports in college, but he understands the difficulty it would be both physically and academically.

Ziemba’s convinced that if he were to be a two-sport athlete in college, he would have to do it in the Ivy League where schools don’t offer athletic scholarships.

Either way, Ziemba plans on deciding which path he’ll take, one sport or two, towards the end of the summer. He’s said repeatedly that he wants to choose a school by the fall, well before basketball season starts so he doesn’t have to deal with the issue in season.

“To have all the stress off my mind will allow me to focus more on defending our state title and then getting prepared for baseball,” Ziemba said. “I’m just going to enjoy myself throughout this whole process and take it all in. Basketball is fun; as is baseball. I’m just going to try my best to keep it like that.”

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